Inevitability, with Nick and Maya
by MATT SUNSTON
Summary: A contribution to Narumayo, in ten parts.
1. Duo

According to movies, like the ones Maya watched so long ago, while huddled up in a blanket with her sister, there were several principal ways for a person to meet the love of their life.

One such way was the proven method of crashing directly into them while in a hurry to reach one thing or another, which could only result in both involved people falling to the ground, briefly catching a lingering look at one another's faces, only just long enough to share a clearly significant moment, before being sharply dragged back to reality.

Another was - though no one would catch her admitting it - Maya's personal favourite, involving an event within the story that would, for even the shallowest of reasons, suddenly force the love interest into the other's company, preferably for the remainder of the film. There was a part of her brain that sometimes objected to the way this method seemed to consistently involve the two rapidly falling in love regardless of whether the movie's events really supported it or not, but Maya was too great a fan of a good love story to let that bother her. Even if the movie was terrible, and the experience of watching it left her and her sister wishing they'd found some other use for their time, getting to watch two people fall for one another was usually the highlight.

Maya remembered many spirited conversations about such things shared with her sister, and even after Mia's murder, the tradition lived on, albeit with Maya at the side of her sister's lone student, Phoenix Wright.

* * *

"OK, take Rachel, from Lunar Samurai." Phoenix said one such evening, while he searched through the rack of movies tucked away in the office.

" _Nick_ _…_ _"_ Maya said with a slight tone of warning. The one-hour pilot for the failed Lunar Samurai TV series wasn't something Maya liked to bring up in conversation. She didn't care what anyone else had to say on the subject; Lunar Samurai was easily the best idea since the original Steel Samurai series, and that it hadn't made it off the ground following the airing of its pilot episode was an injustice Maya couldn't stand for. Hearing Nick casually mention the name as if he didn't consider it as important as she did was a dangerous thing.

"No, really," Nick went on, apparently knowing what Maya was thinking, "You remember her first scene? She's on the phone, just talking to her mom about the _laundry,_ but _right_ when she's about to start saying something about a job application, she gets cut off by that-… that big, y'know, armoured space knight person crashing through the wall. Clearly she was planning to have a whole new branch in their conversation, but then _BAM,_ space bounty hunter fight. Then she just helps the Samurai out and gets dragged into the plot."

"And she's _awesome."_ Maya interjected. "She and the Lunar Samurai are the best pairing since the originals."

"I'm not saying she isn't." Nick responded. "I just mean that, in that scene, she obviously meant to keep talking to her mom, but then she gets sucked right into the plot and just throws away everything else she was up to at that point. That just makes me wonder about stuff, like, is her mom freaking out? Last thing she heard, their call got dropped, and then she doesn't hear anything for a _week_ until they run into each other just before the shootout at the beginning of the third act. What was her mom up to for that week? They must've had something going on, but Rachel just throws whatever it is away to go and help the Samurai with fighting… what's the guy's name again? They never said it in the pilot."

Maya's reply was instantaneous. "The director's commentary said he was called the Red Star Soldier. Nothing about his real name, though. He was _so_ _**cool**_ , though, wasn't he?"

"Very. Not my point." Nick picked up. "What I'm saying is-"

But it was too late already.

"Ugh, it just makes me so _mad,_ talking about it!" Maya cut in. "How could they just cancel it there? It's a waste of so much potential!"

Phoenix, having paused in his search to take part in this line of conversation, gave up on his point. He'd been too careless. Maya was off talking about everything she loved about the pilot episode, and that could take a while. It would be better for him to just return to his search and let her go ahead.

* * *

Maya took some time to realize just why she remembered that particular conversation so well. When at last she gave it some proper thought, during a train ride into the city, Pearl fast asleep with her head resting on her cousin's lap, she worked the reason out.

Nick had been trying to make a point about how the pilot took a moment to show hints of what its primary love interest character was up to in her own daily life, only to throw her headlong into the plot and keep her there for good. Whatever Rachel might have initially had in mind for her immediate future was discarded in favour of her becoming the Lunar Samurai's most trusted companion both on and off of the battlefield.

Maya supposed that if she were any other person, she wouldn't think much of it, but considering that she was Maya Fey, spirit medium in training-turned assistant to a defence lawyer, she could relate to the character.

Back then, on the horrible day that she lost her sister, everything she'd seen coming in her own immediate future was thrown out the window in much the same way. Her plans to settle herself down in a small apartment in the city, her hopes for managing her training with her new life in the city, and everything in-between had been forced into disappearing in favour of her trial.

And through everything that incident entailed, she found Nick. It was strange to consider how the time since had changed her. Her newly redoubled efforts to continue her training threatened to rob her of the opportunity to see her best friend, but with a bit of teamwork between her and little Pearl, they'd found a chance, which brought them to this moment on the train to the city.

Maya was fairly sure that Pearl was asleep. She gave a lighthearted roll of her eyes when she thought about how her cousin would respond if she knew just how greatly her thoughts were currently centred around Phoenix Wright.

* * *

 _Ten days of shippy nonsense, you say? Oh, I'm there._


	2. Role Model

"Ooh, _where_ is it-!?"

The young girl's voice was edging its way into desperation. Her tall top hat shook atop her head as she kept her last few minutes' routine of searching the room alive.

Maya wanted to help, but what could she do? Nick's daughter knew what she was looking for, but Maya wouldn't have the slightest clue what it looked like. Instead, she looked over at the other end of the room, where Nick was examining the cluttered floor space with equal intent.

She could barely believe that only a few months had gone by. The time since she once again left for Kurain had been filled with more major events than it had any right to. That awful case, which she'd heard all over the news, had been the start.

* * *

She remembered that morning, sitting beneath the small cavern waterfall behind Fey Manor. Pearl came racing in the moment she finished her session beneath the frigid torrent in desperate tears.

The reason for Pearl's frantic explanation was enough to put Maya into an equal panic, but her young cousin hadn't wanted to interrupt her training, and the minutes she spent waiting outside the cave had only further increased her panic.

Nick had been publicly disgraced, and the news was calling him a fraud. Maya's reaction was a storm of emotions, mostly of the sort that inspired her to physically attack those speaking against her best friend's character.

Arriving back in L.A. on the first train possible, only to find the office door locked and Nick refusing to answer it had done nothing to help. It hurt Maya deeply to imagine what her best friend was going through.

Nick had been thorough in locking himself away from the public eye, too, but not thorough enough for Maya. He'd removed the spare key from its place outside the building, but he couldn't touch Maya's own key.

"Nick…?"

Maya remembered the sound of the key in her hand hitting the floor as her shock caused her to drop it. Nick was there, huddled on the couch, looking worse than she'd ever seen him. It had only been three days since that trial; how had he fallen so far so fast?

A layering of stubble was covering his face and Maya doubted he'd showered that day. It was quite a change from just a few weeks later, when he'd become an adoptive father.

* * *

"Oh-!" Trucy exclaimed. Maya looked up. The cheery eight year-old was staring at something just over her shoulder. "Miss Maya, it's right there!" she said brightly, pointing a finger.

Maya turned. The office was a mess, in the middle of renovations. Trucy had insisted, and Nick was no better at denying his new daughter's requests than those of Maya or Pearl. Maya looked over the shelves behind the couch, still wondering what Trucy was looking for, exactly.

"Here," the girl said, walking past her. "Behind the stepladder."

Maya froze. Trucy ducked in close to the shelf and produced a shoulder bag shaped like a heart from the mess piled up there.

She was saying something, but Maya didn't hear it.

" _Nick,"_ she said, prompting Phoenix to look over at her.

"What's up?" he asked, approaching.

He yelped in surprise when Maya grabbed a hold of his grey hoodie to pull him down to her level.

"Nick," Maya repeated, her voice shaking, "Y'know, I thought…" She sighed. Phoenix just looked into her eyes with a questioning stare. "I thought we were making some real progress here, Nick."

"M-Maya, what-?"

"I can't _believe_ you." Maya said, and by now her voice was getting melodramatic enough for Phoenix to realize she was messing with him. "After all I've done to help you, I find out that you're raising this poor little girl to be just as discriminatory as you are."

Phoenix straightened up, smiling when Maya released her hold on him. Maya clambered over the back of the couch toward Trucy. The girl looked on uncertainly.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Maya said to her, "I won't let Nick just keep being that bad an influence on you. It's just a _ladder."_

* * *

 _Almost too late for today, but here we go._


	3. Revival

**-8:53-**

…

 **-9:22-**

…

 **-9:49-**

A sigh.

"… Whatever." Phoenix grumbled, dragging himself upright in his bed. It was Saturday morning; he could get away with sleeping for longer, but justifying it was getting harder by the minute.

He pulled on a shirt to match the pants he'd slept in and exited the room. The short hall outside was already lit, as expected. Maya's bedroom door at the end of the hall was eased open, too. Phoenix yawned heavily. There was no way that Maya would've still been sleeping now, unless she was sick. That girl could survive on barely two hours of sleep.

While Maya's absence from her bedroom was hardly impressive news, Phoenix _was_ surprised to find the rest of the apartment empty as well. Was Maya downstairs, then?

He headed for the stairs. Halfway down, he heard a familiar voice saying something indistinct. The moment he pushed open the door at the base of the stairwell, Maya's voice became clear.

"Of course he will. I'm positive."

Phoenix wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. Maya was seated across the room, on one of the office's couches, facing away from him. Naturally, the morning person that she was, Maya was already dressed and showered for the morning. Pearl was there, as well, though only visible by her distinctive hair loops poking out over the back of the couch.

"Morning." he said, addressing the pair.

"Oh-! Good morning, Mr. Nick!" Pearl responded, jumping a little at the sound of his voice.

"Heya, Nick!" Maya added.

"What're you two up to down here?" Phoenix asked. Maya - and Pearl, if she was staying in the city at the time - usually stuck to the upstairs apartment on Saturday mornings, rather than coming down to the office on the ground floor.

"Oh, just a new project…" Maya said secretively, not getting up from the couch. Phoenix deduced that she expected him to come over. He played along, and when he rounded the couch he found Maya holding a strange assortment of what looked like clothing pieces. "What d'you think, Nick?" she asked him, a wide grin on her face.

Phoenix spent another few seconds looking over the eccentric-looking outfit. "Uhh…"

"Niiick," Maya droned impatiently, "Don't tell me you _don't_ recognize it…"

Phoenix scratched at the back of his head. There was something at least _a little_ familiar about the outfit in Maya's lap now that he had a proper look, but…

"Ugh, c'mon, Nick!" Maya demanded. "It's the Lunar Samurai's costume!"

"Oh-… Right, right." Phoenix felt a bit stupid at missing the distinctive insignia on the chest piece of the costume now. Indeed, it was clearly that of the one-time TV hero. "So, what's that doing here?" he asked.

"This," Maya said proudly, standing up to display the full costume to him, "Is one of the actual stunt costumes worn for the filming of the Lunar Samurai pilot! You remember when I left the office for a while yesterday? Well, now you know why!"

"Tell me you didn't steal it." Phoenix said, wondering what would make Maya look so smug about her possession of the costume.

"Hey-! What kind of girl d'you think I am, Nick? I didn't _steal_ it… I just went over to the Global Studios lot, and they gave it to me."

"And why did they do that?"

"Because I _asked_ them to, Nick. Duh."

"… Right. Is that just something they do? I haven't heard that the studio's doing _too_ badly these days..."

Maya sighed. "Nick, use your head! They didn't just give it away for no reason. It was a present specially for me!"

Phoenix was gaining more questions by the minute. "OK," he said, "I'm waiting for the explanation…"

"Man, you're slow this morning, Nick." Maya said. "OK, you remember the last time we talked about Lunar Samurai? Well, that inspired me to write some mail to the studio. I've still got a few favours over there since you defended one of their biggest stars."

The way Maya explained this made it sound like it should've all been obvious. Phoenix didn't find it to be so.

"So, bottom line," Maya went on, "I've got big news, plus these two costumes!"

Phoenix opened his mouth to ask his next presented question, but realized that he had more than one to come now. "Uhh…" he began, "I'll go with the 'big news' first."

Maya looked fit to burst with excitement. "They're gonna bring back the Lunar Samurai!" she squealed, her voice exuberant now. Pearl seemed excited as well.

"Oh-! Th-that's great! ... How'd that happen?" Phoenix asked.

"Well," Maya began, still grinning widely, "Thanks to some very well-placed mail by yours truly, I got in touch with the director of the pilot episode, and he made a call to the studio himself. He's still hoping that the series gets off the ground too. They needed a little convincing from the fans, but they agreed to order a few more episodes to test the waters."

Phoenix smiled back. "That's great to hear. And… the costumes? You said you had two, right?"

"Yep!" Maya said with a nod. "Pearly?"

Phoenix performed a double-take. Where had Pearl been hiding that?

"It's the costume that Rachel appeared in at the end of the pilot!" Maya said, though Phoenix had already recognized the costume this time. The patchwork outfit emblazoned with a hand-painted Lunar Samurai insignia was too distinctive to miss. "I just hope they don't ask for it back once they start filming…" Maya said.

"Well, if it _is_ yours for good," Phoenix inquired, "What're you gonna do with it?"

"I'm gonna be best cosplayer in town!" Maya declared cheerfully. "I'm gonna go out in-costume and spread the word that the show's coming back. You're gonna help, of course."

"… Excuse me?"

"Oh, no, you're _not_ dodging this one, Nick." Maya said, holding out the Samurai's costume to him. "This one's for you."

She forced the outfit into Phoenix's hands. "Uh… can I at least go get some breakfast first?" he asked. The looks he saw in Maya and Pearl's eyes told him that he wasn't likely to avoid this demand.

Maya smiled her familiarly coy smile. "I guess, but hop to it! We've got a lot of ground to cover today."

* * *

 _Day 3, but I have no special comment._


	4. Ideal

Maya once told Phoenix about what she believed to be the reason for Pearl's beliefs regarding their relationship. He seemed sympathetic, and to preserve the poor girl's fragile emotional state, the two never stepped in to clear up the misunderstanding.

Nick was always fun to embarrass, but Maya couldn't pretend that Pearl's misunderstanding never caused her any level of grief as well. She wondered at times whether she could've done anything back then to prevent it from coming to be in the first place.

Maybe she could've gotten the hint when Pearl asked her upfront about whether Nick loved her. In retrospect, it was a pretty clear warning.

"Aww, Pearly, who _wouldn't_ love me?" might not have been the best choice of answer. If nothing else, admitting the possibility that she _might've_ had the tiniest possible crush on Nick as well was _definitely_ not a good call, at least.

Pearl _would_ need a good talking-to somewhere down the line, though. Maya didn't like to imagine how it would go.

* * *

Pearl's continued belief that the two people caring for her whenever she stayed in the city were madly in love was impossible to keep from the council of Kurain elders, as well. Maya felt conflicted on the idea of letting them meet Nick for themselves. She had several glaring reasons to be _very_ opposed to the idea to start out, but at least it might ease off a few of their frequent criticisms.

According to the warped understanding that Pearl had managed to instill in their minds, as innocent as her intentions might have been, Maya had followed the path of her sister, who had left the village to pursue a future in the very profession that cost Kurain its reputation all those years ago. The elders made no small point of indirectly mentioning their disdain for Mia's career choice, particularly when addressing their apparent need to "correct" Maya's course in life. They seemed deeply resentful toward the defence lawyer who they came to believe had seduced Maya into a lifestyle that disregarded the needs of Kurain's future.

None of them had even _met_ him, yet, but Maya thought so far that it would be best for Nick to keep it that way.

Pearl didn't need the knowledge of the trouble her exuberance had inadvertently caused for Maya.

* * *

It was around the time of the Hazakura case that Maya came to realize Pearl was not the only one to believe that she and Nick were something more than friends. Sure, they sometimes caught the odd comment from the employees of burger restaurants and department stores about Nick and "his girlfriend", but they'd always just laughed those off. The way their other friends and associates began to speak of them following that case's harrowing events gave Maya a very different feeling.

The way she explained it to herself was fairly simple. She loved Nick, but not in the way that the people around them seemed to believe. Of course, using that particular phrasing never seemed to make any difference either way, so she eventually dropped explaining it.

Pearl's explanation would always have a considerably greater impact, anyway.

* * *

"Hey, Nick?" Maya asked one late evening a month after her 20th birthday, which found her in the office's upstairs apartment, huddled up on the couch with Phoenix, both of them covered by her favourite blanket.

A rather sleepy-sounding noise took the place of a reply from Phoenix.

Maya yawned. "Yeah, I'm about to tip over, too." she said. "First, I wanna ask you something."

A yawn of Phoenix's own, much louder than Maya's, prefaced his response. "OK, shoot."

Maya opened her mouth, but paused first. Her eyes briefly shot a glance at the closed bedroom door just into the hall. It was still hard to wrap her head around the idea that Nick was a father now. Maya felt sure that he'd do a great job. He got plenty of practice with Pearl, and little Trucy was a girl of a very similar sort.

"Nick," she finally began after taking another moment to switch off the TV, "What would you call it when two people are… well, _super_ close to one another, - like best friends times ten - and all one of them wants to do is hang out with the other… forever…?"

…

Phoenix didn't reply. Maya watched him for a few seconds. Maybe he was asleep already. She sighed.

"Tryin' to have a heart-to-heart here, Nick…" she grumbled. Phoenix wasn't snoring yet, so Maya hoped he'd at least pick up her words. "I just wish things didn't keep trying to get in the way. For so long it was always cases, or training back in Kurain… It's not like we didn't get plenty of time, but now this comes up…"

The fallout from the Gramarye trial was the biggest shake-up they'd ever been through. Nick wasn't a lawyer anymore, he had a daughter to take care of - and even though it only took one meeting for Maya to _adore_ Trucy, she didn't stop missing the old days.

She knew Nick was innocent. There was no way in hell he would ever have even considered doing something as low as forging evidence just to win a single case. Maya had expected him to bounce back and throw himself into investigating the incident for himself - Detective Gumshoe had even come by just the other day to offer his help - but now Nick was putting aside his own needs to care for this poor abandoned girl instead, and Maya worried just how long it might be until they could eventually start to sort things out again.

She'd talked to Mr. Edgeworth, and he seemed to believe in Nick just as strongly as she did. They'd find something, but just how many things would have to come first…?

"Nick," Maya said softly, feeling more and more sleepy for herself now, "I know things are gonna be tough for a while, but… you've always been there to help me, and I'm gonna do the same for you." She yawned again and gently nuzzled herself tighter against his side. "… I promise."

Maya's eyes had just drifted shut when she heard an unexpected reply. Nick's voice was low and quiet as he asked, "Did you say something, Maya…?"

Maya felt like sighing loudly and rolling her eyes 'til they threatened to drop out of her head, but instead she just tugged the loose blanket over her shoulder and answered, "Yeah, Nick, I did. I'll tell you about it in the morning."

Soon, she and Phoenix were both asleep, their combined snores filling the air of the otherwise silent living room.

Neither of them heard the sound of a certain bedroom door creaking shut again, nor the voices of the two young girls crouched by the door as they giggled and gossiped amongst themselves.

Pearl… might not have been quite so far off the mark.

* * *

 _So day four comes and goes._


	5. Downtime

Maya's eyes were closed. She was awake, but at the moment, she saw no real reason to bother with keeping her eyelids up.

Her feet were crossed atop the table just in front of the couch that she was resting on. Eleven years, and Phoenix still hadn't been able to convince her not to prop her feet up whenever she sat down here. She at least kept her feet on the floor when they were both at the table to eat, as a favour to him, but that was all the say she gave him.

Three sounds were registered in her ears at the moment. The first was the distant rattle of the brand-new air conditioning unit she'd insisted upon buying for the Wright Anything Agency when she at last came home to L.A. only to find the occupants of the office suffering through the summer heat with only the aid of a half-dozen oscillating fans, on account of the older unit breaking down at some point.

She wasn't certain whether Nick's initial claim that they didn't need a replacement came more from his ever-present worries about his makeshift family's financial situation, or rather his plain shock at Maya herself being the one to put forth the cash to buy one. She also didn't really care; the office needed to be at least a _little_ cooler than the outdoors, as far as she was concerned.

Being in charge of Kurain had a few benefits, for sure. Being able to financially support her longtime best friend - and considerably more recently, fiancé - was definitely in the top five. Trucy had always claimed she could support herself and her foster father with the income of her excellent magic shows, and she had a fair point, but Maya wasn't about to let them remain in constant borderline poverty while she had access to the considerable fortune of Kurain.

The second sound reaching Maya's ears was the continuous scratching of a single pencil against a seemingly endless stack of papers at the other end of the room. Nick had enlisted Apollo and Athena to the Agency's latest case, leaving him as the sole attorney left at home. Apollo was always studious with paperwork, but Nick wanted to ensure that his employee had plenty of more active work to himself at the same time.

For that matter, Maya herself was quite adept at handling the less interesting sides to the work the law office took on. For all the time she spent messing around and enjoying herself in this very office all those years ago, she'd spent at least somewhere close to the same length of time taking care of the bulk of Nick's paperwork. "Assistant" wasn't just an empty title, even if it might often have appeared that way.

The third sound audible in the empty office was that of Maya's own fingertips drumming over the armrest of the couch. She was bored, and carrying on with her current course didn't seem like the way to fix that.

She opened her eyes. The first thing she spotted was a loose lock of her black hair dangling into her field of view. Puffing her cheeks, she released a sharp breath upward to knock it aside. After casting a glance at Phoenix across the room and finding him still focused on his paperwork, she turned her gaze to her own feet on the table. She rocked her ankles back and forth for a few seconds.

This was the time to take action.

Maya slid her legs to the floor and hopped to her feet. She crossed the room to where Phoenix was seated in a few steps and bent down toward the table.

* * *

Phoenix halted his writing and looked up as Maya's elbows settled on the edge of his desk. She had a rather plain look on her face.

"Nick, I'm _boooored."_ she exclaimed, hanging her head. Her hair beads clattered against the tabletop.

Phoenix set down his pencil. When Maya looked at him again, he had his own face lowered, so as to look at her from an angle.

"OK." he said. "What d'you want _me_ to do about it?"

Maya met his gaze. They lingered for a moment, and as Phoenix caught the brief sight of his own reflection in Maya's brown eyes, he felt a familiar warm feeling start to well up inside him.

He'd missed this. Taking care of his office and employees kept him satisfied with his day-to-day activities, but things never really felt like home without Maya. Exactly what he'd done to deserve this beautiful young woman in his life was something he still hadn't quite figured out.

That said, he didn't immediately feel like welcoming an interruption to his considerable stack of paperwork.

"… I'm hungry." Maya said to close the lengthy pause. It was hard to tell if she really meant it, but Phoenix knew he could expect Maya to enjoy having food whether or not she really _needed_ it at the time. "You wanna go grab a burger?"

"Ms. _Fey,"_ Phoenix replied, reclining in his seat. "Are you _asking me out? In_ _the middle of a work day?"_

Maya tilted her head to and fro for a moment. _"Maaaybe."_ she said.

"It wouldn't be sensible to just leave the office unchecked, Maya." Phoenix remarked. "What if a client shows up?"

" _Niiiick,"_ Maya pouted, "No one's gonna show up _now._ C'mon, the kids are all out investigating - we can afford an hour for lunch."

This was true. Even Trucy had tagged along with Apollo and Athena, excited to finally be free of school and able to take up an active role in the office again.

Phoenix spun his chair slightly to look over at the nearest clock. It _was_ right about lunchtime. He took in a heavy breath and let it go slowly.

"… You're buying?"

Maya pouted again. "… OK." she agreed. "I guess that's fair. You've definitely got me beat in the 'burgers bought' department. Now get up, c'mon!"

* * *

Phoenix was just locking up the office door when Maya pounced on him from behind. Over the immediate surprise, he smiled and set a hand on her wrist as Maya wrapped both over his shoulders. He felt her chin touch down on the base of his neck.

"We'll tell the kids we stayed here all day, right?" she asked softly.

Phoenix tucked his keys into his pocket and turned himself around in Maya's embrace. "You really think we'd get away with that? _All three of them_ are living lie detectors."

"Mmm, I guess you're right…" Maya's soft voice replied, its owner nuzzling her cheek into the side of his neck.

Once Maya released him, the two set off toward the small building's exit. Phoenix held the door open and Maya stepped outside. On the pavement, she glanced back.

"Well, if they're gonna find out anyway, what d'you say we hit a movie, too? Lunar Samurai 3 is gonna be leaving theatres soon…"

Phoenix crossed his arms, shaking his head a little at the coy look Maya was giving him. He subconsciously rubbed his pinky finger over the surface of the ornate Kurain engagement ring on his finger as he did so.

"Maya, you're the only girl I've ever known who could be pushing thirty and still want to rush over to the theatre to catch a Steel Samurai spinoff." he said, unable to avoid smiling to match her.

"Hey," Maya replied with a little shrug, "I'm the only Maya Fey you know."

"True." Phoenix said, nodding once. He stepped over, locking eyes with her again. "Good thing, too. You don't want competition, right?"

"Never." Maya said. She stood up on her toes to steal a kiss. "Now hurry up, old man."

Phoenix, only just easing back from their kiss, staggered a little when Maya grabbed a hold of his tie and began to lead him away from the office.

* * *

 _I'm late, gotta keep it moving_


	6. Balance

"Maya, it's not-…"

The words wouldn't come to him. Phoenix sighed, crumpling against the doorframe he'd been resting against, his cell phone still pressed to his ear. He dragged a palm across the stubble developing on his chin.

"Nick," her soft voice came through, sounding patient, if tired, "I think you need some sleep. Tell you what - I'll call back in the morning, OK? First thing."

"… OK." Phoenix replied, his voice weary. Maya was right. It was nearly midnight, and he couldn't just stay up all through the night, even if it felt like the only real choice. Trucy was already asleep upstairs, and he could only hope that she didn't know how he was feeling at the moment.

* * *

His daughter had celebrated her twelfth birthday two months ago. That had been one of the only days since that Phoenix had felt happy and at ease.

The reason for the disquiet he had experienced ever since came with such features as a pair of thin glasses and a disarmingly polite smile.

Kristoph Gavin - the sole defence lawyer who spoke to his benefit in the chaotic aftermath of the Gramarye trial four years ago. A soft-spoken if impersonal gentleman on the outside, Kristoph was Phoenix's primary insight into the patchwork community of practicing defence attorneys in the district. It was, however, what the man was on the _inside_ that stood as cause for Phoenix's present worries.

Between supporting his daughter and running their talent agency, Phoenix had found relatively little time for investigation into the circumstances behind his disbarment in the years since. He'd started out determined and optimistic, but those feelings had gradually begun to drain away with the passage of time. It was only on the day following Trucy's recent birthday that Phoenix had come across his first real lead in barely short of a year.

He hadn't spoken to Kristoph in nearly a month until that day; the defence lawyer made a brief visit to the Wright Talent Agency to chat about recent events before he headed to his own firm for the day. There was little about that talk to cause Phoenix any disquiet until Kristoph's parting words.

"Pass on my regards to those Fey girls, as well."

For a minute or two, he'd thought nothing of it, but as the sleek car down out in the street pulled away to rejoin the flow of traffic, something had occurred to him.

Kristoph shouldn't have known anything about Maya or Pearl.

Phoenix couldn't think of a single time he'd ever mentioned either of the Feys in conversation, and unless the two were extending their visits to the city to include the Gavin Law Offices, there was no point at which they'd ever met, either.

So, the pieces were starting to shift together. The puzzle was far from solved, but Phoenix had a proper starting place again.

On Trucy's birthday, Maya had ensured that she could visit with Pearl. Her now-thirteen year-old cousin was Trucy's best friend, after all. Neither of them would have accepted otherwise. They spent most of the day out at Gatewater Land - a favourite location of Maya's. In the evening, after a free dinner at Eldoon's Noodles, Maya and Pearl had returned to the train station for their trip home to Kurain.

What reason could there have been for Kristoph to know of them, then? That day was in the middle of his active work week. It could only be assumed that he'd spent the day at his law office, which was nowhere near any of the locations Phoenix had taken Trucy, Maya, and Pearl to visit.

Such thoughts and theories had been a constant source of anxiety and paranoia for most of the two months following.

* * *

Maya put aside her phone, sighing for herself.

She hated this. Back in the city, Nick had only Trucy, and there was no way he'd ever burden the girl with his worries right now. She had more important things to focus on; school, friends, magic - it would be wrong to throw such a curveball into her life.

Maya was on her way back to her bedroom when she caught the sound of a door sliding open.

"Troubling night, Maya?"

Her breath caught in her throat.

"Sis…?" she said, turning.

Pearl's bedroom door was wide open, and standing in the doorway was a much taller figure than the room's usual occupant.

A curtain of Pearl's recognizable chestnut hair hung down her neck, but the face before Maya was clearly her late sister. Almost automatically, she stepped forward. Mia opened her arms to accept Maya's embrace.

"So," Mia's voice went on, "What's the story tonight?"

* * *

"I just… Sis, I just don't know how much longer he can keep it up like this."

Maya's gaze fell to the floor of her bedroom, where she was resting on the edge of her bed.

Beside her, Mia gently massaged her nearest shoulder. "Maya," she said, "You remember those times, back when you were Phoenix's assistant, when you found your way into trouble one way or another? Whether it was wrongful murder charges, or life-threatening danger?"

Maya glanced up. "Kinda hard to forget, Sis. Nick's the only reason that it's not me borrowing Pearly's body right now."

"You're on the right track." Mia replied. "Whenever you and Phoenix were standing in the courtroom together, everything you two did was in service to one another. You kept each other going, no matter what kind of challenges you came across. But whenever cruel fate decided that you'd be in danger of losing each other, d'you remember what happened?"

"Yeah," Maya said with a tired smile, "Nick came in swinging, like the dorkiest badass around."

"That _does_ describe him pretty well." Mia agreed. "But there was always one shared reason, wasn't there? One thing that kept him rooted and focused, no matter what."

"I know what you're getting at, Sis." Maya interjected. "You mean me."

"Right again. By now, you've had the pleasure of knowing him better, and for longer than I ever did, but I can tell you one thing about Phoenix Wright: as long as he can lift so much as a finger to stop it, he won't let anything happen to the people he loves."

Maya listened, huddling her knees in close to her body. She knew that every word Mia was saying was true.

"And, unless I've gravely misinterpreted the evidence," Mia went on, "The one he loves the most will always be you, Maya." She paused for a moment, and added, "That little angel he adopted is definitely tied with you, though."

"You're sure that's not just Pearly influencing you, Sis?" Maya asked, a little smirk tugging at her lips. "It's her body you're borrowing, after all."

"I think Pearl's just a bit quicker on the uptake than either of you two." Mia replied. "As I recall, she was already on board with the idea when she was _eight."_

"Yeah… Nothing was gonna change her mind." Maya said, a nostalgic look in her eyes now.

There was a pause. The silence of Fey Manor crept its way through Maya's senses, giving her more time to reflect on her own worries.

"... You really love him, don't you?"

Another silence. Maya could practically feel Mia's gaze boring a hole into the side of her head as she kept her eyes fixated on the gap between two floorboards.

She blinked, and was surprised to feel a thin layer of dampness welling up in her eyes.

"… Yeah." she said, using her sleeve to dry her eyes. "I do."

Her voice came out shaky, like it was on the verge of breaking. Maya sniffed, feeling tears creeping into her eyes in earnest now. Mia's arm moved from her shoulder over to her other side, and she leaned into her sister's hug.

"You're his anchor, Maya." Mia said, "If you're worried that he's starting to forget that, all I can tell you to do is to remind him."

Maya burrowed her cheek into her sister's shoulder, her tears starting to stain the thin robes she wore. She stayed that way a while longer, until a different voice arose.

"Did you have a good talk, Mystic Maya?"

Maya sat back, smiling even as her face was stained with tears.

"Yeah." she said, easing the worry plainly visible on her cousin's face. "We did. Thanks, Pearly."

* * *

Phoenix grunted, blinking in the partial light filtering into his window. His phone was ringing on his bedside table. As he reached for it, he flinched in surprise at the sight of the clock. Why hadn't his alarm gone off? An hour had passed since the time it was set to.

"… Maya, hey…" he said, answering the phone. He stifled a yawn as Maya greeted him back.

"Nick, I wanna tell you something." she said.

"… OK, so tell me." Phoenix said. He got up from his bed, stretching his back out.

" _No,"_ Maya said playfully, "Not until I see you."

Phoenix glanced curiously at the phone, as if trying to imagine Maya's expression on its surface.

"Maya, why bother bringing it up on the phone if you're-"

"That's easy, Nick. In fact, it's a one-step process. Open the door."

Phoenix hesitated. "… Maya?"

* * *

Phoenix pulled open the door to the stairwell leading into the office below and stammered in surprise as a magenta-clad figure jumped into him, arms closing around his back in a tight hug.

"Maya-!" he exclaimed, returning the gesture.

"Miss Maya!" came Trucy's cheery voice. The twelve year-old raced over to join the embrace.

Maya took her sister's words to heart. Nick was worrying himself sick over the man he suspected to be involved in the forgery that led to his disbarment. He was worried for her safety and Pearl's, but Maya wasn't going to let him just stew on those feelings on his own. He needed someone he could count on to be there, and as far as Maya herself was concerned, she was the only qualified candidate.

* * *

 _Late again, Mr. SUNSTON. That's no good..._


	7. Shift

"Man," Phoenix began, his voice transparently trying to sound cheerful, "I'm gonna feel _really_ bad for the next person who asks you how your day's going."

"Hmm…" Maya tried to chuckle, but it came out more as a non-committal grunt. She picked up her pen, aimlessly waving it around the blank paper on her desk for a moment.

About five hours ago, her mood had been sitting somewhere around the undesirable but not intolerable range of "I've had better days", but it had made its way along that sliding scale in the negative direction rather steadily ever since.

She sighed. "Good thing that you're the only person who needs to see me for the rest of the night, then." she remarked, dropping the pen again.

Usually, considering the monetary troubles that she and Phoenix seemed unable to ever fully escape from, Maya would have been happy to pick up any case that happened to fall into her lap, but the way her day had gone today, she was glad to have little more to do than hang around her office and banter with her assistant.

She spun around in her chair to look over at the couch, where the young man in question sat with a sketchpad and pencil.

"Hey, Nick?" she asked. He looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Think we ought to just close up shop for the night? We've still got tomorrow to worry about, and I'm still feeling like crap."

Phoenix considered it. "… Alright. Not that I'm doing much over here, anyway…"

"Awesome." Maya said, getting to her feet. She still had a formidable stack of documents to look through, revise, and file away on the desk behind her, but for tonight, the allure of ending her work day early won out. The world wouldn't be too offended, she reasoned.

Her first stop was the bathroom. Maya stood before the mirror, looking over her reflection for a moment.

"Aren't _you_ looking pretty tonight, Ms. Wright…" she grumbled, reaching up to remove the tie holding her hair up in its lazy knot and shaking her lengthy curtain of charcoal black locks out for a moment. On the job, defence lawyer Maya Wright liked to put in the effort to look at least _a little_ professional, even if her sharp suit and neatly styled hair could be undermined by the eccentric outfit of her assistant.

Not to say that she faulted Phoenix for it, of course. At the age of nineteen, he was about the best kind of assistant Maya could imagine having around; smart, eagerly helpful, good for a friendly laugh - the odd looks his favourite set of channeling acolyte's robes frequently drew could be forgiven without issue. The fact that Phoenix was easily Maya's best friend was just a nice way to round things out.

She found Phoenix still reclining on the couch when she finished up.

"Hey," he said, sitting upright, "I finished this one." He held up his worn sketchpad, flipping it around in his hand.

Maya made a surprised little noise, her mouth falling open the slightest bit.

The drawing on the front of the pad was just as well-done as anything else Phoenix had ever drawn, - he was quite the talented artist, on top of his other qualities - but Maya found this one especially striking. It almost made her feel like she was still looking into the mirror.

A detailed portrait of her own face smiled widely back at her surprised expression. Phoenix had the details of her face nearly perfected.

"I don't remember ever sitting down and grinning like I just won the lottery to model for you, Nick." she said. "You honestly drew that from memory?"

She thought she spotted Phoenix's face tinting just the slightest shade of red. "Well, I _do_ get to see your face pretty often…" he said with a little shrug and a smile much like the one in the drawing.

"Yeah?" Maya replied, "Well, if you were about twelve or thirteen years younger, I'd suggest we stick that up on the fridge, considering it's freakin' _amazing,_ but-"

"Aww," Phoenix interjected, clearly getting rather red in the face now, "C'mon, Maya, I've got better ones…"

"You'll have to let me see them again some time." Maya said. She gestured for him to follow her. "Now come on, let's get out of this office for the night."

* * *

The arriving pair stepped into the small apartment on the building's second floor, Phoenix switching the lights on as he arrived first. Maya made sure, as ever, to stand just far enough behind him to keep her face clear of the unruly spikes that Phoenix's dark hair seemed to unavoidably shape itself into on the back of his head. The nature of his hair was a mystery, really. It hung down to his shoulder level, and most of it was kept in check quite easily, but as far as Maya knew, Phoenix had never once managed to tame the specific section right on the back of his head.

Whenever Maya mentioned her assistant's rather dangerous-looking hairstyle, Phoenix would respond with his consistent comment of "it's just _hair",_ and it was more out of a desire to keep something handy to tease him about that Maya still gave his head the clearance that she did. She and Phoenix were almost exactly the same height, after all.

* * *

Most of the evening going forward was a slow and easygoing affair, owing to Maya's desire to just wind down from her less-than enjoyable day and mentally prepare herself for the one day remaining before the weekend.

She and Phoenix scoured the fridge for a passable dinner, sat down to skim through the TV channels - a very standard sort of night, really.

"Unh…" Maya groaned, easing herself off the couch when at last she began to feel her eyelids drooping without her consent. "I'm gonna go to bed a little early, Nick." she said. "Try not to break anything, OK?"

"It's not even nine." Phoenix remarked. "You're already that worn down?"

"Hey, I'm gettin' old." Maya replied. "Happens to all of us."

"Maya, you're _twenty-six."_

"And that's seven years longer than you've been around. Come back to me when you hit that same age, and then we'll talk about this."

"Whatever you say." Phoenix replied with a smile. "G'night."

"Night." Maya answered over her shoulder, already leaving the room.

* * *

The sun was making its familiar assault on Maya's eyes when her sleep finally abandoned her the next morning.

Her feet hit the floor, locating the set of fuzzy slippers Phoenix had given her at Christmas. She left her room, and was surprised to see Phoenix's own bedroom door looking exactly the same as she remembered it being when she passed it by the previous evening.

"… Nick?" she called out. No answer. "Hmm…"

Maya checked throughout the apartment, but saw no immediate sign of her assistant. Not so much as a single misplaced dish in their little kitchen seemed to suggest that he'd been up here at all. He'd been with her the whole evening up until she went to bed, so where had he disappeared to?

She opted to check downstairs in the office. Making her way down the stairwell, she pushed through the door into the main room of the office.

"Nick-…" she muttered in surprise.

Her assistant was seated in the chair in front of her desk, his arms acting as a makeshift pillow for him as he snored mutedly, still fast asleep. Maya next spotted the fact that her desk was otherwise vacant; not a single page of the stack of documents she'd left behind could be seen. The folders she'd set aside for them were gone, too, and Maya had a sneaking suspicion that she knew where they'd gone.

* * *

"Mm… wh-… Maya?"

" _Mooorning,_ sleepyhead."

Maya smirked at her assistant's drowsy expression. He sat upright, groaning.

"I…" he began, glancing around. He was still dressed in his robes from the previous day. "I fell asleep here, huh?"

"Only after you got a whole lot of work done, I'm guessing." Maya remarked, indicating the absence of the papers from her desk.

"Oh-… right." Phoenix said, blinking as he seemed to recall something. "I was about to go to bed when I got to thinking - you had such a crappy day yesterday, I didn't want you to have to sit right back down and work on all that paperwork first thing today."

Maya crossed her arms, smiling brightly at him. "Well, well," she said, "Phoenix Benjamin Fey…"

Phoenix grinned back, although he still looked tired. "Uhh… yeah, my middle name's not Benjamin."

"Oh." Maya glanced aside for a moment. "Michael?"

"Nope."

"Wayne?" she guessed again. "... Allison?"

" _Maya,"_ Phoenix laughed.

"Ugh, it was 'Maya' this whole time? Seriously?"

The two broke out laughing, carrying on for several long seconds. Maya was the first to stop, and she successfully cut Phoenix's laughter off as well with one well-placed motion.

Leaning down to his level, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. The effect was instantaneous. Phoenix swallowed his breath so quickly that Maya thought he might choke for a moment. From there, he sputtered briefly as his face erupted into a luminescent blush.

"Thanks, Nick. It was sweet of you to do all that." Maya said, back upright and enjoying the sight of her friend's embarrassment. "Now, I found you down here about twenty minutes ago - I thought I'd come back down to tell you that I made you some breakfast upstairs. C'mon."

* * *

 _This one was fun._


	8. A Small Change

Trucy Wright and Pearl Fey were about as close as any pair of friends could realistically be. If it was at all possible for them to stick close to one another at any given point when Pearl was in the city, - with or without Maya - it could be reasonably assumed that the two would do everything in their capacity to do so. It was rare for Phoenix to ever deny his daughter the chance to see her best friend, and he'd gone to great lengths in the past to ensure that the two _could_ meet up, near regardless of any possible difficulties involved.

The two hit it off well from the first day they met, though their very first meeting nearly spiraled into disaster.

It wasn't too long after Trucy's adoption that Maya had surprised Phoenix with a visit to their former law office. She brought Pearl along, eager to finally be properly introduced to the daughter Phoenix had taken in. Her young cousin was the one to knock on the office door, and to their surprise, it was answered by girl of age similar to Pearl's, who smiled brightly at them from beneath a pink top hat that barely fit on her head.

Phoenix only became aware of their arrival when he exited the bathroom a minute after the knock sounded, whereupon he approached the door and was met with the confusing sight of Maya and Trucy attempting to console a sobbing Pearl. When he stepped forward to greet them, he was nearly assaulted by the young medium, who furiously rebuked him for a "betrayal" of some kind.

Maya apologized at length after the fact, explaining that she'd carefully avoided mentioning Trucy's adoption to Pearl back in Kurain Village, hoping to make their meeting a surprise.

That was the only bump in the rapid process of the two girls becoming about as close as Phoenix himself was with Maya. To that end, the pair shared a certain pastime that Phoenix couldn't claim he hadn't worried about.

Pearl's insistent belief that Phoenix was romantically involved with Maya spread to Trucy like an infection. Fortunately for her father, however, Trucy was considerably less on-the-nose about it than her friend.

* * *

The first few of the years between Phoenix's disbarment and his eventual success in exposing the crimes of Kristoph Gavin occasionally saw him trying to convince Maya that, for all the negative effects it might have on the emotional state of their respective young charges, it would be safest for Maya and Pearl to remain away from the city unless it was truly necessary. Maya put an end to that idea quite effectively. She'd seen the state of despair that her best friend could fall into, and she wasn't about to let it happen again.

The last instance stuck out clearly in Phoenix's mind, and he felt ashamed when he thought of the argument that had taken place on that day.

That was the primary reason that he found it so difficult to request that Maya specifically stay in Kurain once he felt ready to begin his calculated plan to expose Kristoph's numerous crimes.

The fire in Maya's eyes was the first image he remembered.

* * *

"Maya, please, I want you to understand - I'm not trying to push you or Pearls away. I just… You know me, I worry too much about you. Both of you. I don't want to _imagine_ what I might do if something happened to either of you and I felt like I was responsible."

Maya sighed. "And you _would_ feel that way, wouldn't you? You'd… You can just be so _stupid_ sometimes, Nick. You fell off a burning bridge because you thought there was _a chance_ I was in trouble once, remember? I'm Pearly's guardian; I know what you mean when you talk about being afraid that something might happen."

"And I hope that means you can understand where I'm coming from. I'd never think that you'd _let_ yourself get into trouble, but…" Phoenix hesitated, rethinking his words. "I'd feel best if I could just know that you two are at least out of harm's way, on the off chance that something does go wrong."

Maya had her mouth open to reply, but she hesitated now.

"… Nick," she said slowly, "What d'you mean by that? 'Something goes wrong'?"

Phoenix grimaced. He hadn't wanted Maya to ask that question.

When he didn't answer her, she went on. "Do you… Nick, you think Gavin might try to kill you, don't you?"

Phoenix looked steadily back at Maya now, meeting her gaze. "I can't say anything for certain, Maya, but the risk is there." he said, as seriously as possible.

Concern flashed through Maya's eyes. "Nick, what about Trucy?"

Trucy was currently enjoying a two-week stay at a magician's camp; the usual place she spent her spring break.

"Say something happens to you - what then, Trucy has to find out that she's lost her father again?"

"Maya,"

" _No,_ Nick." Maya cut him off. "If that's the reason, I'm not going to hide in Kurain and just cross my fingers."

"Maya, you have your own responsibilities out there. All I'm asking is that you skip on planning any trips here until-"

"Until what?" Maya interrupted again, her voice rising. "Until I either find out that my best friend is dead, or you do whatever it is you're planning and eventually decide everything's OK again?"

Maya didn't want to get angry at him, but Phoenix was pushing her there. The recent years had done a lot to change her best friend's disposition. Some days she wanted to scream at him - anything to get it into his head that the loner he was slowly trying to turn himself into was the wrong person to solve his problems.

She could tell that he didn't want to argue either. He wasn't sounding firm or confident, but rather pleading, and willing to compromise on his requests.

"Maya," he started once more, still unable to summon the confidence of the attorney he once was, "Please… I know you don't like it, but why can't you just go along with this, just once?"

"Because, Nick," she said, "It's not a good idea, and you know it. Sure, you know that what you're doing is dangerous, and you don't want anyone you care about being dragged into it, but…" Now Maya was the one rethinking her methods in this conversation. She sighed, cursing the sudden loss of her own confidence. "Damn it, Nick, I'm afraid of exactly the same thing. You've put yourself on the line so many times already, one way or another, and… I care about you and Trucy too much to be OK with taking that risk."

She'd lost the edge that she'd come into this with. Staring back at Phoenix across the table between their two couches, she waited for a response.

Phoenix had an unusual look in his eyes. It was one that suggested he was searching for something - seeking an answer to a question he couldn't bring himself to ask.

The moment held for several seconds, and it ended when both participants took an action that neither could have seen coming, yet which still made its way into their respective minds simultaneously.

Maya pushed herself off of the couch, acting purely off of something like instinct. At precisely the same moment, Phoenix himself rose from his seat. The two each took a single step to make their way around the glass table between the seats, and when their paths met, their bodies intertwined almost automatically.

Maya threw her arms over Phoenix's shoulders, letting her wrists hang limply in the air. She felt his hands circle around her back, and in the next moment, as his face lowered towards her own, their shared motion became a kiss.

Everything around them ceased to exist at once. Maya's eyes drifted closed, and Phoenix became her only anchor to the real world. She pushed her body against his, tilting her head slightly while maintaining her connection to him without pause. Phoenix's hands pressed into her back, just below her shoulders. Her own hands moved, finding their way into his dark hair. She pushed his handmade blue beanie up and off of his head, exposing the mildly flattened spikes that his hair always seemed to grow into. She pulled her lips away slightly, giggling as the hat dropped against her own head.

Trucy had made that hat for her father. Seeing it reminded both Maya and Phoenix of how very glad they were rapidly becoming to know that Trucy was still going to be away at camp for another week.

* * *

 _I like to imagine that Nick and Maya would only ever get their act together once something forced them to both realize just how much they needed each other, at exactly the same time._


	9. A Big Connection

What was the usual etiquette involved in notifying your friends and neighbours of your upcoming wedding?

Maya had no experience in the matter. Obviously Pearl knew that her cousin was officially engaged to Phoenix, along with the occupants of the Wright Anything Agency, but she hadn't quite gone about shouting it at everyone she encountered.

Telling anyone back in Kurain would be as good as _demanding_ a storm of criticisms and arguments about her priorities. The person she was marrying was one thing, and the timing was another. Maya had a lengthy journey coming up in her spiritual training schedule, and obviously the wedding couldn't come first. Kurain tradition demanded an elaborate ceremony held back in the village, as much as Maya sometimes wanted to just find some cheap locale in the city to rent out for an afternoon and hold whatever unambitious ceremony the Wright Anything Agency's budget could manage.

She'd convinced Pearl to keep quiet about it as well, at least when she was home in Kurain. If Maya could manage it, the council of village elders didn't need to know a thing until she was back from her training once again.

Telling others about her engagement was definitely not going to be near the top of Maya's priority list until then. It was so far off, after all. She was going to leave within a month, and she wouldn't be back for just shy of six months. She hated knowing that she would soon be spending that long away from Nick, just as they'd made their relationship closer than ever before.

Still, she could handle it. Nick could, too. They'd been through much worse. Spending as much time as she could in and around the Agency until she needed to leave would help.

* * *

"So, if you aren't telling anyone else for now," Maya had been asked by Athena during a talk about their plans, "When _is_ everyone gonna get the message?"

Maya shrugged. "I figure I'll just decide on a time toward the end of my trip. Call up the elders and drop it on them out of the blue. That'd be fun."

The reply earned a laugh from the young attorney. "Do they even know that you and the boss are dating? I've never gotten the impression that either of you guys like talking to them much."

"No way." Maya answered, grinning. "They didn't want me to have anything to do with Nick after he lost his badge. 'Screw them', I decided. They have plenty of say in the decisions we make in Kurain, but it comes down to me in the end. I kept the heat off Nick by telling them that I hadn't talked to him since before that whole mess. Me and Pearly made a whole show of acting like that case made us finally realize how awful a guy he really was. Just a selfish crook of a lawyer who'd finally been exposed for what he was."

"Uh _huh_ _…_ _"_ Athena replied with a little frown, "Because that sounds _so_ much like Mr. Wright…"

"Yep. Total BS all the way down." Maya said. "Still, they seemed to buy into it. They didn't ever bother him, no matter how many times I came to the city for reasons definitely totally unrelated to him."

"How do you think they'll react when you tell them that you're _marrying_ him?" Apollo chimed in.

"Oh, that's gonna be the best part. I'm gonna plan out exactly how to slip that particular detail in. It'll be great."

* * *

The day she left was hard.

Phoenix and Trucy went out to the airport with her, not a single one of them able to keep their eyes dry. Pearl was there as well, as she would be accompanying Maya for certain parts of her journey.

"I'm gonna miss you two _so much…"_ Maya said when at last her emotions overcame her in the airport's entrance area. She threw herself against Phoenix, dragging Trucy into her embrace as well. It was fortunate that they weren't in the middle of one of the more crowded areas of the building, or they'd likely be quite the obstruction.

Maya wasn't wearing her ring, for the sake of their secret. She'd managed to procure two of the beautifully-made rings reserved for the main family of Kurain from the village with some help from Pearl, and she hoped no one would notice until she returned. Phoenix had his on all the same. Maya's was kept in a sealed box secured in her luggage, and she was planning to check on it every step of her trip, wanting no possible risk that it might be lost.

Once they finally separated from their hug, Trucy grabbed Pearl in a tight embrace as well. Both girls had tears streaming down their faces, even if they were smiling.

"See you, Pearly…" Trucy could be heard saying softly. "I promise I'll keep you caught up on everything back home."

Hearing that comment made Maya wonder about something - now that she and Nick were by every definition an item, what poor soul might Pearl's matchmaking efforts switch focus to? Apollo and Athena were the first two faces to spring to mind. She felt immediately sorry for them, just in case.

When it came time for Maya and Pearl to head off for their first flight, the group stopped once more at the gate.

"OK." Maya said, placing a palm against Phoenix's cheek, prompting him to set his own on her wrist. "One more before we go."

Phoenix shifted on his feet as Maya jumped up and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him with fervor that left Pearl and Trucy unable to contain a few choice shrill noises of glee.

They broke off again and smiled at one another. Trucy stepped forward, still grinning widely, to give Maya one more hug for herself.

"I'm looking forward to a big show to welcome us home." Maya said.

Trucy hugged her tighter without saying anything for a moment. Maya was about to release her hold when she caught a quiet response.

"I'll make sure you aren't disappointed... I love you, Mommy."

* * *

In retrospect, Maya thought she shouldn't have been quite so shocked to hear Trucy calling her "Mommy". After all, she _was_ marrying the girl's father, and since she'd first met the young magician at the age of eight, she'd certainly felt as attached to her as she expected a mother would.

Maybe it was just her embarrassment over nearly breaking down again right in front of the gate and needing to be led away to the flight by Pearl that made her feel that way.

* * *

 _Day nine. I'm glad I've kept up so far._


	10. Perspective

"Y'know what, Athena?"

The redhead's pen halted in its place.

"Yeah?" she inquired, looking over at her co-worker. Apollo's tone caught her interest more than the simple words of his sudden remark.

"I think I've finally got the two of them figured out - Mr. Wright and Maya, I mean."

Athena smirked. "Yeah?" She loved the way the mood of their office had changed since the arrival of their employer's former assistant. She doubted that anyone needed a sense of hearing as finely tuned as hers to recognize just how close the pair of them were to one another. The way Mr. Wright's commonplace patient smile was quickly displaced by a bright expression most frequently accompanied by a wide grin was one easy tell, but there were others.

"OK, so…" Apollo began, gesturing idly with his left hand. "This is kinda hard to put into words. Like, anyone could tell from looking at them for five minutes that they love each other. That's kinda hard to miss."

"No kidding." Athena agreed. "You should try hearing it with _my_ ears. They could be talking about _dirt_ and it'd still make me want to cry half the time. I've never heard any two people sound so _connected_ when they talk."

Apollo jabbed a finger in her direction. "That's what I mean. I think I've finally figured them out. If you look really closely, you can tell that they're actually just _one_ person, basically."

Athena laughed. "So, you're saying they take 'you're my other half' about as far as it can go?"

"Pretty much." Apollo answered, nodding. "… Actually, tell me something: have you _ever_ heard Mr. Wright sound genuinely unhappy whenever Maya was around?"

"Nope. He's over the moon whenever she's here. Trucy, too."

"Yeah…"

Maya was definitely not the sort of person Apollo had initially expected her to be based on her title and reputation, but when he considered it, he wondered whether he should have imagined a young woman closer to the way Maya actually was, considering what he knew of her closest friends.

He felt happy to see his boss in spirits as high as those Maya inspired. The earliest days he'd spent working for Mr. Wright had done a lot to damage the mental image of the man that he'd built up in his years growing up. Seeing him now, back in the job he loved and accompanied by people he loved just as much, helped to restore some of that lost faith in Phoenix Wright.

Maybe he'd thank Maya for it some time.

* * *

As far as orphaned girls went, Trucy considered herself pretty lucky.

Her foster father didn't stop at just ensuring that she had a stable home life after her childhood was thrown into disarray so suddenly. One way or another, he'd pulled together a whole family for her. Apollo, Pearl, and Athena were about the best siblings she could ask for, even if that title was unofficial. And when it came to finding someone to fill in the combined role of mother to her and partner to her father, Trucy wouldn't have accepted any candidate other than Maya Fey. The beautiful young woman was the one to truly bring her father's smile back, even in the worst of times.

Trucy could never thank her enough for that.

* * *

Considering the circumstances of their first meeting, many would call it nothing short of a miracle that the respective lives of Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey could since have turned out as well as they had. Neither would claim that they could have achieved half the things they had with their lives without the other's help.

Their lives took them from two disconnected people sharing a great tragedy, on through to the closest of friends and so much more.

" _Thanks, Nick."_

Those they counted among their friends and family wouldn't debate the strength and far-reaching effects of the bond the two shared.

" _And Maya...? Thanks."_

* * *

 _Hey, what d'you know, I've got a 'thank-you' to give out as well._

 _Thanks for reading, everyone. Care to leave a review?_


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